Thursday, November 8, 2007

Familywoke up this morning at 5:30 to Lisa feeding George - he's slept all the way through from 11:30 to 5:30 and that can't be bad, but now he's ready for a feed. instead of putting him back in his moses basket by the bed afterwards, we let him fall asleep on my chest. He looks so contented.

I look at Lisa beside me and George lying on me - both asleep. I am so lucky.

I visit the Oxfam site http://www.oxfam.org.uk/ and pledge a monthly donation. something I've been meaning to do for a long time. One of their questions is "what prompted you to donate" - there are a list of reasons. none of which are "because my family make me feel so lucky"...

Magazine workHaving had a couple of weeks off for George's birth, I'm back in the office looking for writing work. As a freelancer, you get used to the rhythms of the business.

Got a call yesterday from Tom at Computer Arts saying could I do a short review of a 3d package (Cinema 4d) - also suggested Premiere Elments because these short reviews are half-pagers so the editor needs 2 to fill a page. also because I've already got Premiere Elements because of yesterday's Guardian article.

Now, because everyone on the magazines wants time off at Christmas, monthly mags always end up doing two issues in the space of one just before, and this means double the workload for everyone - especially the freelancers who end up with extra work because everyone in the office is too busy running round like headless chickens to write any of the issue in-house.

Add to this the fact that just before Christmas, all the software manufacturers go into overdrive trying to launch new versions of anything anyone might buy as a present, so there's lots more out there to cover.

Tom's last deadline is the 24th of December (nasty) and he's got another before then too, so he wants to commission everything in the next week....

I also write the software reviews for ImagineFX and they've got the same problem. it looks like they've only got one review for me to do this month, but that has the same deadline (next friday) as the work I've taken on from Tom.

I suspect that the only reason Digital Video magazine haven't called me with the same problem is that they're so tight on their previous issue that nobody's had time to think about the looming Christmas deadlines yet...

Rhythms of the business.

Meanwhile I'm going to try to do Toms two reviews today - before going off to Brighton this afternoon where Lisa is attending an Occupational Therapy conference tomorrow and I'm looking after George who will no doubt be screaming all day because he's not getting fed...

Documentaryit turns out that the British Interplanetary Society (a name which sounds like it's from an HG Wells novel - can't wait to meet them) are organising a symposium on the science of faster than light travel for next week.

This means there will be a lot of experts from around the world there - all of them potentially great interviewees for my documentary "going to gliese". I've written to the organiser and the society who both seem happy for me to come along and film. In return, I've offered to video the event and turn it into a dvd for their archives or their website.

Offering favours like this is a great way to get co-operation for your film project. They're getting something out of it, so they're happy to be involved. it'll take me some time to do, but it'll keep everyone happy.

I'll let you know how I get on in hyperspace next Thursday....

News from my previous documentary, Shark Story (on prehistoric sharks): I approached CurrentTV -http://www.current.com/ a tv channel set up by Al Gore to 'democratise TV' - the idea being that you submit short (up to 10 minute) documentaries which, if they like, they pay for and transmit.

I met someone from the channel and sent them my doc which they thought would be great edited down to 10 minutes. Just heard back from the channel's Head of Accusitions who turned it down.

That's a pity - but she did say I could contact her next week about other projects, so I don't think it's the quality of the programme she's concerned about. I'll have to find out a little more about what her criterior is because the channel seems like a useful outlet.

some of the questions I'm grappling with... read on if you want to find out how I cope:

I'm a freelance writer, illustrator and animator, and having just finished my first documentary (on the evolution of sharks) I've now started work on my second (on interstellar travel)... if you want to see how I get on, read on.